As Time Goes By
by Ms Isabella
Summary: I have no idea what to type here because I suck at summaries. Jeff Clarke's foray into Chicago Med. Preview story is posted on the Chicago Fire board. It is titled Chicago Fire. You might want to read it before reading this one, just so you can familiarize yourself with the characters that will be appearing in this story. Please feel free to read and review. Chapter 3 now up.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: The original story introducing Kaitlyn, Chicago Fire, is posted over on the Chicago Fire site. It was written during Season 2 of Chicago Fire. I stopped writing it after Jeff Hephner left the show. Now that he is back on Chicago Med, I will continue their story. I hope you enjoy._

As Time Goes By

Chapter 1

The first day of his ER rotation was done, and Jeff Clarke felt like he had been run through a blender. He was surprised to see Natalie Manning in the ER. He didn't know that she was doing her residency at Chicago Med. It had been a pleasure to see Maggie. He had always admired how she maintained order out of the chaos of the ER.

He slipped into his coat and added his backpack. His sister in law Carolyn had warned him that Medical School was a bitch. _'She wasn't kidding,'_ he thought as he left the lounge.

"Jeff?"

He stopped and turned, waiting for the woman to catch up to him.

"Hi, Natalie."

"Hi. I just wanted to say welcome to Chicago Med. I hope you like it here."

"I'm sure I will. I have a feeling that it's going to be a busy year."

"It will be and you'll learn a lot. And it will fly by."

"That's what people are telling me."

He stepped aside to allow her to walk through the automatic door. The cold Chicago winter air hit them as soon as they stepped through the doors.

"Listen, do you want to grab coffee somewhere?" she asked.

She wanted to grab coffee and catch up with him. She and Jeff had had great times with him and his now ex-wife, Lisa.

"DADDY!" a child's voice called.

He turned toward the voice. Two seconds later, a child ran to him and gave his legs a hug. He bent down and picked her up., giving her a kiss on her cheek.

"Hi, Princess. Where's everyone else?"

"They're coming."

He turned to Natalie.

"Nat, this is my daughter, McKenna. Kenna, this is Dr. Manning. She's a friend of Daddy's."

McKenna held out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Dr. Manning."

Natalie tried to hide her shock. Jeff had a daughter? It didn't seem possible.

"It's nice to meet you too, McKenna. That's a very pretty name."

"Thank you."

Jeff noticed a woman holding the hand of another child and carrying a baby carrier in the crook of her arm walking toward him. He smiled as she caught up to them.

"Hi, Babe."

"Hi," she said as she let go of the child's hand and shifted the carrier to the opposite arm. "How was your day?"

"Busy and long. This is Dr. Natalie Manning. Her husband and I were good friends before he was KIA. Nat, my wife, Kaitlyn."

He indicated the child standing next to Kaitlyn. "This is Evan, and the little guy in the carrier is Kyle."

"Nice to meet you, Natalie. What's your specialty?"

"Pediatrics," she stammered. She felt foolish for asking him to have coffee. She had no idea he had remarried, let alone fathered three children.

Kaitlyn nodded. She looked at Jeff. "We'll wait for you in the van. It's a bit cold to have them out for long."

"I'll be there in a minute."

"Please hurry, Daddy. I have homework."

"I'll be there as fast as I can, Kenna," he said as he set her down. "Be sure to hold Evan's hand."

Natalie watched them walk back toward their van.

"Things sure have changed."

"Yes, they have. She's been very supportive of me going to school. I am very grateful for that. Fortunately, when I decided to go to school, Kait had just made partner."

"She's a lawyer?"

He nodded. "At Reed, Stephenson, & Voight."

"Voight? Any relation to Hank?"

"His wife, Jessica."

"Small world."

He looked at her.

"Natalie, I don't want to be rude, but I don't want to keep everyone waiting. I promised Kenna I would help her with her homework. I don't think coffee would be a good idea."

"Yeah, sure," she agreed. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Have a good night."

"You too. Thanks."

He started toward the van. She watched him go, feeling stupid for even suggesting coffee.

"Life goes on," she mumbled as she headed to the parking garage.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Jeff sat at the table helping McKenna with her homework while Kaitlyn put the finishing touches on dinner.

He glanced over at Kaitlyn. "When did Math become such a bitch?"

"The minute they decided to dumb it down and use Common Core."

"I know, right? This is totally ridiculous."

She added milk to the mashed potatoes. "How long till you're done? I can't hold this roast forever."

"Two minutes."

He rose from the table and walked over to her. "I think we should seriously think about private school for her. Public just isn't giving her the challenges she needs."

She nodded. "I would home school her, but she needs the socialization."

"So, can we think about this for next year?"

"Looks like the decision has already been made."

"I should have some spare time tomorrow. Do you want me to look into schools for her?"

"If you want to."

She dumped the potatoes into a bowl and handed them to him.

"Kenna, dinner," he said as he made his way toward the dining room.

Homework finished, baths taken, kids in bed, Jeff opened a beer and poured a glass of wine. Kaitlyn looked up from her book as he set the wine on the coffee table in front of her. He sat down. She closed the book and set it next to the wineglass. She moved so her head was resting in his lap.

"So, how was your day?" she asked.

"Busy and long. We got the tour, and then they put us right to work. It was different to see how things worked. You have to make a lot of decisions fast. There are a lot of good doctors there."

"The important part is did you like it?"

"Yeah, I did. Will I like to specialize in it? I'm not sure yet. I like surgery, but it's a five-year residency."

"Yeah, it is. Orthopedic surgery is the same. Emergency Medicine is three. Depends on what you want to do."

His arm slid loosely around her waist. "Nothing has to be decided tonight."

"Good thing, huh?"

"Very good thing. How was your day?"

"Light day. Everyone was out of the office. I got a lot of work done."

"That copyright infringement case still going on?"

She sighed. "It is. It's going to drag on for forever."

"I'm sorry, Babe. I know you're frustrated."

"Too many games being played by opposing counsel."

She rolled over and looked up at him. "You sure you don't mind looking up schools for Kenna?"

"Don't mind at all. She's smart. She deserves to be in a school that will work with her."

"Or is it that you don't want her to learn Common Core math?"

"That too."

"I agree it's stupid. I don't like the public education system at all. We should have thought this out before she started the school year."

"We didn't know that until after she started. I'm sure we can find a school for her and get her enrolled quickly."

"I'm sure we can."

She leaned forward and picked up her wineglass. She took two small sips.

"So, what did Dr. Natalie Manning want?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Her husband and I served together in Iraq," he explained.

"It looked like she was more than a little interested in renewing an old friendship," she pointed out.

"Not happening, Babe. I have a different life now. Besides, you know the Bro code."

"Don't sleep with your Bestie's woman?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"She's pretty."

He sighed. He knew what Kait was doing, and he had never known her to do this before. "Babe, I know what you're doing here, and it's not going to work."

She looked up at him. "What am I doing?"

"You're feeling insecure."

"I'm not insecure-"she protested.

"Kaitlyn Rose, don't even go there. You are all I want and need. Nat's lost her husband. She's probably still in mourning. Besides, she's an attending, which technically makes her my boss."

He bent down and kissed her lips. She sighed. She probably _was_ being an insecure bitch. She couldn't really help it. They had been married seven years * and had three kids-6, 4, and 8 months. She wondered if he was getting the seven-year itch and was bored with being a husband and father. She remembered the professor in her Academy Psychology classes reporting statistics about the average marriage lasting seven years. She had always believed that she and Jeff could be the exception rather than the rule.

"You worry too much, Babe."

"It's hard sometimes," she started.

"What is?"

"Being Mom, lawyer, wife, and girlfriend. Especially when the girlfriend is still carrying around an extra 15 pounds of baby weight."

"You hear me complaining? You'll always be that sweet girl that walked into 51 during the blackout with the entire contents of her freezer. And you've been listening to Dr. Laura too much."

"Jeff-"

"Kaitlyn-"

She took a good long look at him and laughed. She saw the corners of his mouth turn up. He was so serious most of the time, she was happy to see him laugh.

"Natalie Manning is no threat to us."

"She'd better not be or I'll punch her lights out."

He smiled. "I have no doubt you will."

She sat up and took another sip of wine.

"Carolyn called. She asked how you were doing."

"What did you tell her?"

His sister in law was still on active duty at Bethesda Medical Center. She was an excellent trauma surgeon. While Kaitlyn had paid back her service obligation after graduating from law school and entered civilian life, Carolyn had stayed in the service, choosing to take care of those defending the country.

"That she'd have to ask you."

"And she said?" he persisted.

"She said she'd find out next week. She has an interview at Chicago Med."

Inwardly, he groaned. He liked Carolyn, but he really didn't want to work with her. She had her own specific way of doing things, and she was very anal about it. He wondered if she had OCD. Kait's twin could be a force to be reckoned with if things were not how she liked them.

 _'All the cities in all the world, why did she have to pick mine?'_ he wondered.

*Author's Note: Yes, I know the time frame does not gel with Chicago Fire. You can thank Dick Wolf for that for messing things up and making Jeff Clarke a 4th year medical student. With those four years factored in, he and Kaitlyn have to be married seven years to make the storyline work. Just roll with it. I had to.


End file.
